'Bigbelly bins', wildflower meadows and rules for dog walkers - 'excellent progress' on making Hartlepool cleaner and greener

In March 2017 Hartlepool Borough Council set out a clean and green strategy with the vision ‘to create a cleaner, greener town with everyone taking part and which everyone can take pride in’.

The three-year strategy is due to end in March 2020 and a report is to go before the council Neighbourhood Services Committee looking at the progress made.

Projects include:

:: 40 high capacity ‘big belly’ compactor bins installed throughout the town to help reduce street littering.

:: Public Space Protection orders including rules over the maximum length of leads, carrying means to pick up after dogs, and exclusion of dogs from the around the water play area at Seaton Carew.

:: A wildflower meadow programme to enhance green spaces and roadside verges around the borough extended to cover a total area of 20,000m2

Tony Hanson, council assistant director for environment and neighbourhood services, said in his report “excellent progress” has been made.

“Cleanliness and quality of the environment are recognised as factors which have a direct impact on how residents’ feel about their local area.

“Well-maintained streets and pleasant green and open spaces are also attractive to visitors, business investors and potential new residents and therefore make an important contribution to the overall prosperity of the town.”

He also noted the council has moved to a digital first customer model for many of its primary public facing services which has ‘greatly assisted in managing immense customer contact workloads’ in environmental services.

Also issues with response times have ‘improved significantly’ and wasted customer contact has been reduced with the ‘improved accuracy and delivery of initial information’.

A deep cleanse programme has also been introduced in the autumn and winter each year targeting different areas of the town.

Council chiefs have also been looking to improve communication and promote green messages with residents through social media.

Going forward the objectives of the clean and green strategy will be covered in the Love Hartlepool campaign, and any further updates reported under that project.